Many are familiar with the following example: Google requires its developers to reserve 20 percent of their working time as "creative time". Organization, but for them Innovation to use. Nobody has to justify what they use this one day a week for.

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The Google idea further thought

Everyone decides for themselves, with whom and with whom he wants to work in this time. In other Companys something similar is done. Employees go on sabbaticals, they sit in on other areas or take part in "change of sides" programs.

We took these ideas and developed them further. We encouraged employees to work as researchers in their own company. Who would be better suited to this than so-called potential forces, from whose above average Motivation we went out. Our assumption is that breaking out of everyday work would not only serve the development of the participant, but also directly benefit the company.

Leadership without result

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We were able to transfer the personnel managers of a classically structured group in the energy industry from our Idea Convince: In a two-day workshop, we discussed with the potential candidates what it means to experiment courageously and open-ended in a leadership and organizational context.

We showed examples from ten years of accompanying experiments and discussed the prerequisites for the success of this approach. In the end, three groups were formed, one of which made the following research hypothesis:

Half a day creative time per week

"If we give our employees half a day of creative time per week, then new ideas will emerge that have a very positive effect on the innovation culture of our company."

Although the entire board had approved the program for potential candidates, we still thought it was worth it usefulto win an additional sponsor from top management. Mr. S., a very smart, young member of the board, was enthusiastic about the idea and the Commitment the potential candidates.

4 Questions about innovation management

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He pledged his support. Already in the design of the experiment, there were several Ask:

  1. What are the costs if the employees are only creative but not productive for half a day?
  2. What hostility is to be feared from other departments?
  3. How do you manage that employees really use their creative time as such?
  4. How do you solve the conflict between the day-to-day task and the creative time?

How structured should creative time be?

Some suggested structuring the creative time. The others disagreed because you can't be creative on command. Some demanded documentation, others didn't want that. It turned out that this is an unsolvable problem Problems acted.

In our opinion, should be tried without any prescription, and one should be surprised by the result. Finally, an overall concept for the experiment was developed and a test group selected. Kick-off workshops were planned to explain the project. They only waited for the starting shot.

If the organization strikes

But then the organizational logic increased. Because Mr. S. wanted to present the results to his colleagues at the next board meeting, the creative time experiment was translated into the templates of an investment application.

There were benefits and Set anticipated, the need for funds was calculated, and finally the open experiment became a milestone with the help of milestones Projects demoted. And since only board members were allowed to present in this committee, our research group was available for questions. Mr S. presented behind closed doors.

Leadership as a counterweight to the organization

In the run-up it was emphasized several times that it was only a formal act. The experiment is not at stake since Mr S. knows his colleagues and he will only carry it out in his own area of ​​responsibility. But it turned out quite differently: The board stopped all initiatives without giving any further reasons. The only comment: In times of savings and increased efficiency, this type of experiment does not fit the course of the organization.

At our insistence, Mr S. was willing to decision to communicate personally to the potential forces. Two months later it came to the showdown. At the end of his monologue, Mr. S. said, “I've learned in the meantime that there's hardly any other option for me than to be at home after 18.00 p.m. at the Family to realize. This creates a counterweight, because the real development in the Company not succeed."

This experiment illustrates how important Guide as a counterbalance to the innovation-hostile organizational environment. Management should - in the sense of metaphor of feeling in psychic systems - choosing different options than those already provided by default by the organization. Otherwise, the new can only emerge subversively or away from the organization – or not at all.


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